Ideas on how to get around Windows 11 ARM not supporting IIS

Question

My new Macbook Pro running on an M1 Max (ARM) chip just came in. I installed Parallels and Windows 11 Preview for ARM, and Visual Studio installs / launches / builds my solution beautifully. Unfortunately the turn windows features on or off dialog doesn't have the option for installing IIS, and others have posted that this is not supported in Windows 11 for ARM.

Our dev team runs multiple ASP.NET Core 3.1 websites locally under IIS using subdomains, e.g.: https://auth-dev.mydomain.com, https://web-dev.mydomain.com, https://webapi-dev.mydomain.com. This was easy to set up in IIS using the bindings dialog, I could specify for port 443 (https) to use a certain subdomain and our dev SSL certificate.

Now I need to figure out how to make this work on Windows 11 ARM. Developing on an inferior non-Macbook Pro laptop doesn't seem like a great solution for .NET devs, I have to assume others with M1 chip Macbook Pros have run into this same issue. What are my options?

I first started looking into using IIS Express, but it seems like every website has to run on a different port, whereas I need them all to run on port 80 (just with different subdomains.) I'd be fine with them running on different ports if there was a way to forward those various ports to the subdomains, but it doesn't seem like the windows HOSTS file supports that.

I also looked into using the Apache web server for Windows, but I read somewhere that it doesn't support running ASP.NET Core apps.

Dorthydortmund

Ideas? Wait. Neither Mac M1 nor Windows ARM is widely supported, so let time solve those issues for you. – Susanasusanetta

I very much doubt that IIS runs on ARM. Windows for ARM is designed for consumer devices at this point, not servers. Perhaps you can try using Apache or another server platform for your local testing? Either that or run Windows Server for x86 in emulation. To me, it really doesn't make much sense to be giving .NET developers Apple hardware, any more than you'd be giving iOS developers a Microsoft Surface. – Neville

I think the only way at this stage is to wait. It may be Apple or Microsoft. Until they realized that win11 on M1 max requires IIS. – Glitter

When Apple hardware is now 5 years ahead of Windows hardware, it makes a huge amount of sense giving Windows devs M1 Macs (that's why I bought one). There'll be a way to make this work. – Inflectional

I totally agree. @CodyGray's answer would have made sense 15 years ago, but not in 2021. Even if you ignore the superior hardware on a Macbook Pro (and that many devs will opt for the superior hardware), you can't ignore the mobile factor here. I'm not just a .NET dev but also a Xamarin / NativeScript / Flutter mobile dev, and iOS development occurs on a Mac. Using Parallels / VMWare on a Mac makes the most sense, otherwise I'd have to jump back and forth between a Windows laptop for Mobile Api work and then the Mac for Mobile work. – Dorthydortmund

Please upvote this feedback to Microsoft so they get on this aka.ms/AAf9n07 – Melodrama

@ShereefMarzouk "Your account doesn't have access to this feedback". – Dorthydortmund

Answer 1

OS build 22563.1 supports IIS. I'm not sure if this is the first build that supports it, but I checked after the last automatic windows update and the IIS features are available; they were not before. I am on a m1 Mac using Parallels with the Windows Insider Preview ARM image.

• Edition: Windows 11 Pro OS
• Build: 22563.1
• Experience: Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22563.1.0

Laurinda

This is huge!!! Thanks for the heads up, I just updated to the latest preview version and indeed, the windows on/off dialog now shows the IIS option. – Dorthydortmund

Let me know if you're able to get ASP.NET apps running through IIS. I'm running into issues, which I posted here: #71317984 – Dorthydortmund

Thanks for this! I have been waiting to hear this since Dec-2021. I just tried build #22593.1 and yep, IIS is right there. – Laresa

Answer 2

I'm using Windows 11 & IIS Express on a MacBook Pro M1 Max (via Parallels) and it is working fine. Of course, for developing environment!

You can download IIS Express from https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=48264

Cacciatore

While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. - From Review – Domenicadomenico

The separate IIS Express installer is either x86 or x64, so not recommended for development/testing either. VS2022 ARM64 does ship an ARM64 native build (ARM64X) of IIS Express. – Susanasusanetta

Answer 3

You can download the ASP.NET Core Runtime or .NET 5.0 SDK to allow you run to run ASP.NET applications on Windows, Mac or Linux. See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads-for-windows-32490f9b-01ee-c13e-b2af-b5057c2d34e8

Quimby

Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please edit to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center. – Displant

While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. - From Review – Brookite

Your answer has nothing to do with IIS running on Windows ARM. – Dorthydortmund